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Getting The Best From Your Doctor
Andrew Paterson—03/2002 |
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 HEN
WE ARE UNWELL, there are two approaches that we can make to our doctor.
We can assume the traditional role of the meek patient
who is basically giving the expert practitioner carte
blanche to do whatever
he or she deems necessary, with mutual assumption that
doctor knows best. Or we can treat our doctor as one
of our advisors or counsellors to help us decide our
treatment plan and path to recovery. Other counsellors
might include qualified alternative or complementary
practitioners, spiritual advisors, friends and family,
as well as (or perhaps most importantly) ourselves,
via our feelings and intuitions. |
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| Both these approaches work to some extent; however,
the second one tends to work better because it takes
in more information and leaves room for more possibility.
It also sets up a psychological state in which we are
taking responsibility, a state that has been shown
to increase survival chances. When we are ill, we are
vulnerable, and it can be tempting under these difficult
circumstances to put ourselves in somebody else's safe
hands. Although most doctors have good intentions,
intentions do not choose diagnosis and treatment — medical
training does. And most doctors are trained in a narrow
medical perspective, with little time to expand their
knowledge outside the drug-biased pharmaceutical journals.
(For example, in the four or more years it takes to
train to be a doctor there is usually only a few hours
of training in nutrition, so a doctor is unlikely to
be advocating dietary changes, even though such changes
might be pivotal to recovery.) Health is too important,
complex and holistic, to be left entirely in the hands
of these specialists. |
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| Some people, due to psychological make-up, beliefs,
background or whatever, want to completely trust a
doctor's opinion as to the best course of treatment.
If you are that sort of person, then trying to gather
further information to make your own decision is going
to be a very uncomfortable process, and so you are
probably better off following your doctor's orders.
If, however, you are someone who takes responsibility
for your own health, then the following guidelines
will allow you to increase your chances of recovery
and your self-empowerment in the face of disease (I
have referred to your doctor as a particular sex, male,
in order to make the sentences more readable): |
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| 1. |
If you have the choice, try to choose a doctor
who has some experience with complementary treatments.
This will mean that he has more pieces of the
puzzle and is therefore likely to offer you a
more balanced perspective and a more holistic
treatment plan. He is also likely to be more
cautious in prescribing drugs, especially for
long-term use, and he is more likely to tell
you the limits of particular treatments (both
orthodox and unorthodox) because he is not attached
to a particular one. |
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| 2. |
Always call your doctor by his first name,
and NEVER by his professional title. This will
put him on an even footing psychologically with
you and forces him to see you more like a human
being than a patient. If he doesn't like being
called by his first name, don't call him anything
(or get a more down-to-earth doctor.) |
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| 3. |
Keep asking your doctor what his "advice" is,
for this reminds both of you that you are there
to seek his counsel and not to obey his decisions.
You are the one that is unwell and it is you
that must ultimately decide what you are going
to do to get better, even if it is to follow
his advice. To ensure that the advice is his
very best, ask him what treatment he would recommend
if it were his son or daughter had the same problem. |
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| 4. |
If you are seriously ill, for example you have
cancer or heart disease, ask you doctor how many
individuals he has personally treated with your
particular condition. If you are his first, you
might want to consider a doctor with more experience
in this area of disease. |
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| 5. |
Doctors are extremely busy and so they often
try to quickly prescribe a drug-fix so that they
can get on with the next patient. Insist on him
telling you all the side effects of the particular
medication he recommends, and ask him if there
are any alternatives (both orthodox and unorthodox)
he can recommend instead, or whether there are
complementary treatments that might be beneficial.
(For example, if he prescribes antibiotics, he
should also recommend acidophilus.) |
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| 6. |
Never allow your doctor to keep you on drug
prescriptions long-term without periodic reassessments.
He may not want to give you time, but long term
medication tends to carry risk, and you need
to know about that risk. |
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| 7. |
It is always a good idea to tell your doctor
if you are taking food supplements or herbal
preparations, as a few of these can interfere
with the workings of medication. Ask him if there
is any conflict or any reason why you shouldn't
be taking a particular food supplement or having
a particular complementary therapy (but DON'T
ask his permission to take them). Make your own
decision based on his knowledge of drugs. (If
he derides you or makes a sarcastic remark about
your alternative or complementary choices, you
may have the wrong doctor.) |
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| 8. |
Unless you need to begin treatment immediately,
always independently research your particular
disease or problem, and the treatments or drugs
that your doctor is suggesting to you. Try National
Library of Medicine and Health
Square on the internet and some of the more
reputable alternative sites such as Alternative
Medicine or Altmedicine. |
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| 9. |
If you are going to undergo a life-and-death
treatment, such as chemotherapy, ask your doctor
what the 5 year and 10 year survival percentages
are for individuals who had the treatment against
those that did not. And it is important to also
ask him about quality of life (you might prefer
to live for 3 years with a reasonable quality
of life, surrounded by your family, then 5 nauseous
years, in and out of a hospital). |
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| 10. |
Unless you have an open-minded doctor well
versed with alternative and complementary treatments,
your doctor is unlikely to know about prevention
and health lifestyle choices (other than the
risks of smoking and the need to eat the proverbial
and fictitious well-balanced diet). Keep those
sorts of question for more alternative practitioners
who specialize in this area. |
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| 11. |
NEVER feel obliged to stay with your doctor
if you are unhappy with his advice or his treatment.
Health is far more important that loyalty (even
if he has been the family doctor for years). |
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| 12. |
Finally, if your problem is serious, always
seek a second opinion. Not only will this make
you surer about the diagnosis, but it might offer
you more options in treatment. |
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Taking responsibility for our own health can be unsettling
at first because we are conditioned to see the doctor
as THE health and disease expert. However, most open-minded
doctors that the author has come across are the first
to advocate personal responsibility. After all, individuals
who take responsibility for their own health tend to
be far healthier than those that don't, recovery more
rapidly when they are ill, and have an increased likelihood
of survival with serious diseases. |
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| "Sit down before
fact like a little child, and be prepared
to give up every preconceived notion, follow
humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature
leads…" |
| T.H.Huxley |
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| National Library of Medicine—the largest orthodox
medicine site on the web today. You will find
most things here. |
| Health Square—has good information on drug side
effects etc. |
| Alternative Medicine—one of the largest and most
extensive sites on alternative medicine. |
| Altmedicine—highly recommended site on alternative
approaches to health. |
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| Andrew Paterson is an independent writer currently living in London. He has no affiliation to any religious or political organisation. To contact him, please email . |
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